September 2014 - Reading Thread

[Mexal]

I finally finished Shogun by James Clavell. Woah. Amazing book, but exhausting. If you're looking for an epic novel, then this should be your next read (assuming you're an idiot, like me, and have yet to read it).

Up next will be The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham, but I might sneak in a graphic novel or two before I start it.

Never read Shogun but always meant to. I'm adding it to my list.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

About to finish up Caliban's War. This one started off slow for me but has been a lot of fun since about the 20% mark. Will move on to Abaddon's Gate next.

[RedEyedGhost]

Please ignore my previous post. Instead, I have started The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

Have fun with that one :thumbsup:

[Peadar]

Have fun with that one :thumbsup:

I had to overcome a bit of prejudice to read it. I kept thinking, "here's somebody ripping off Ken Grimwood's replay". But that's a stupid attitude. So far, I'm enjoying it quite a lot.

[Anatúrinbor]

Finally finished the Culture books with Surface Detail and The Hydrogen Sonata. Excellent books as usual, but I am really saddened that there aren't more of those to read.

Next I'll be reading the Quantum Thief since I'm already on a SF streak. At some point I'll start rereading some of those Culture novels. Can't wait to get my hands on Excession or The Player of Games again.

[RedEyedGhost]

Never read Shogun but always meant to. I'm adding it to my list.

You won't be sorry :)

I had to overcome a bit of prejudice to read it. I kept thinking, "here's somebody ripping off Ken Grimwood's replay". But that's a stupid attitude. So far, I'm enjoying it quite a lot.

It does have a little of that same feel (I absolutely love that kind of story), but it's sufficiently different to not feel like a ripoff. Both are excellent books.

[williamjm]

I finished Leigh Bardugo's Ruin and Rising, which I thought was a good conclusion to the series. I think I might rate it as the best book in the trilogy because it had more consistent pacing, the first two both had a lengthy mid-section where Alina is just mostly hanging around the Little Palace talking to people without much happening. There was probably more focus on the supporting cast in this book than in the previous two, which is good since I often found some of the secondary characters more interesting than the protagonists, I think it did a good job of showing a group of characters who don't particularly like or trust each other being brought together by their common cause. I thought the ending was good despite some of the plot resolution being a little bit too neat and the final confrontation perhaps not being as epic as it could have been.

I am also finding some of the Goodreads reviews for this amusing, particularly those from readers who are outraged that their favoured romantic pairing didn't end up together and therefore IT IS THE WORST BOOK EVER!!!

Next up I'm going to read Peadar's The Volunteer. Given that I read Daniel Abraham's latest book before Ruin and Rising and will probably read Abercrombie's new book next that'll make it four in a row for books written by authors who have posted at least semi-regularly on the boards.

The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding was an immensely entertaining read, action packed but also hitting all the right emotional tones as well. Great finish to the series, I'll miss those characters.

While I think it is good that the series went out on a high, I could happily have read several more books following the crew of the Ketty Jay.

[underarmsauce]

Didn't really accomplish much in August besides read Misery and On Writing By King and Turn Coat in the Dresden Files series.

Today, two releases came out that should take up the first half of September. Started reading Star Wars: A New Dawn and will roll right into Jack Reacher: Personal. Also, I have been reading the Jim Henson biography as well as a long term read.

[First of My Name]

Finished Skeleton Crew, which I liked. Now reading The Unifying Force. It's been 4 years since I read it and my English wasn't too good back then, so I don't have much memory of the content.

[deleted01]

I am loving The Widow's House. I'm over halfway through, and I just know it won't be enough.

After that, I'm not really sure. Shall have to check my TRP. I do have The Wise Man's Fear to read, but it's huuuge, which I find slightly off-putting, despite knowing it will be awesome.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenyon. Depsite the beautiful world building and a protagontist that I should have identifed with, I just couldn't connect with the story.

Now reading Deathmaker by Lindsay Buroker.

[Leofric]

Finished Declare by Tim Powers, cool spy thriller covering World War 2 and the Cold War with a twist.

Reading The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick.

[Serious Callers Only]

Glass Thorn series by Melaine Rawn: a 3 books (incomplete) series of (interminable) books that forms a single narrative about a fantasy theater company with no resolution of the plots in sight (in 3 books, for now).

Theirs not to reason why by Jean Johnson: a 4 books (incomplete) series that is a silly mix of Dune + Starship Troopers + Mary Sue Buffy. Author apparently writes 'romances' with covers of shirtless guys normally, but this isn't like that. It's fun, even if (or because?) the main is a giant Sue.

Elfhome 4 Wood Sprites by Wen Spencer: Tinker's long lost sisters have a book of their own to be adorkable.

The Proud Tower, Guns of August and a Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman: it's the 100 year birthday of ww1 you know.

Lockstep by Karl Schroeder: a clever scifi idea explored, which probably makes critics love the book, because critical darling genre non-series books are all about a single clever idea nowadays.

Silence of Medair and Voice of the Lost (series) by Andrea K. Host. Author Suggested here as self-pub. Too much of a indisciplined romance author, in the first (superhero scifi) books she wrote (forget the name), lots of pairings, shipping, satisfied family life etc, better in this smaller fantasy, but still can't resist a gratuitous and strange triangle at the end, probably will not read again.

I had to overcome a bit of prejudice to read it. I kept thinking, "here's somebody ripping off Ken Grimwood's replay". But that's a stupid attitude. So far, I'm enjoying it quite a lot.

I thought it was a very clever extension of the idea of replay. It also doesn't make sense because the births - superbly random - are not affected by the 'butterfly effect' which makes absolutely no sense (the Jean Johnson series above is the same, seems a hazard of books that explicitly or implicitly use non-deterministic prophecies). Replay didn't have that problem, so maybe the extension is something Grimwood considered and discarded.

[Serious Callers Only]

Also read a lot of comics because i was bored. The better ones were almost all non-superhero:

Thief of Thieves was a ok thief thriller

Velvet was a ok good genderbending of 007

Superior Foes of Spider-man is one of the superhero exceptions, losers backstabbing eachother

Rachel Rising was ok gothic-horror-in-suburdia

Fatale is ok Lovecraft Horror + noir femme fatale

Latest Daredevil doesn't suck, Matt Murdoch was 'outed'

Powers is long running a non-marvel/dc superhero crime procedural. It's ok, but it's Bendis, if you're allergic. Much fresher than the tripe in Marvel/DC universe though.

Scarlet (another Bendis) is a pretty self-satisfied series about OWS indignation (corrupt cop murder, long soliloquies, arc towards unrealistic revolution etc), that nonetheless has fabulous art.

Criminal by Ed Brubaker is pretty boss crime thriller

There are a lot i haven't read yet but i expect entertainment.

[The Wolves]

Just finished The Three Musketeers I loved it. It's a great story that had adventure, love, intrigue, humor, and so much more. Dartagnan and Athos are my two favs and their loyalty to each other and Porthos and Aramis and theirs to them was admirable. It was a long read but I wasn't bored and I read it in under a week. It's a fav of mine. I loved it.

I'm starting to read Crime and Punishment it's another long read but I'm looking forward to it.

I'm going to continue with the classics.

[deleted01]

Finished The Widow's House. Oh, Abraham, you slippery little bastard. Where's the next book?!

Just started The Gray Wolf Throne, book 3 in the Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima.

[wolverine]

Never read Shogun but always meant to. I'm adding it to my list.

Might be my favorite book.

Just finished The Sun Also Rises. I like Hemmingway's style, but the only other book I have read of his is The Old Man and the Sea, any suggestions?

Kind of feel like an idiot for not realizing sooner that (SAR spoiler):

Jake's injury caused him to be impotent

[mashiara]

Sand by Hugh Howey was an interesting read. I liked the setting and the conditions he created and the little hints he dropped now and then. I had some issues with his writing at times, it felt way too staged. And the ending was rushed and all too tidy for my taste. But still, not a bad book at all.

I'm now reading Skin Game by Jim Butcher.

[polishgenius]

Having finally been able to buy some books for the first time in ages on Tuesday, I've gone on a bit of a blitz: so far I've read The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham which is excellent, Hidden by Benedict Jacka which is fun as per the series but rather slight, and Resistance by Samit Basu which is almost as good as Turbulence (which I loved) but has a slightly unfocused finale that lets it down a bit.

Will be cracking open Assail in a bit.

[Toblakai]

Will be cracking open Assail in a bit.

Will be happy to see your very non-spoilerish thoughts. I am just a couple chapters into The Crippled God, so even knowing which characters are featured in Assail would be a spoiler.